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BIG PHYSICS, BIG QUESTIONS –

Nuclear U-turn

BRITAIN’s Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is refusing to award compensation
to veterans of nuclear test explosions for the illnesses they have suffered,
despite Labour support for their cause while in opposition.

Blair is maintaining the line often used by the previous government that
radiation from the 1950s tests did not increase the risk of cancer.

In a Parliamentary answer this month, the Prime Minister said that the
government will contest veterans’ compensation claims, which are due to be heard
by the European Court of Human Rights in November
(This Week, 8 February, p 4).
The British Nuclear Test Veterans Association accuses Blair of “writing veterans
off as an unwelcome embarrassment”. It claims he has succumbed to pressure from
the Ministry of Defence, which has long opposed compensation.